Buoyed by the impressive numbers, shares of the company opened higher and further gained 6.21 per cent to Rs 954.80 – its 52-week high on the BSE.

At NSE, the stock zoomed 6 per cent to a one-year high level of Rs 955.

The scrip was the top gainer among the bluechips on both benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty.

"Reliance Industries' top-line as well as bottom-line were above our estimates on account of higher than expected profitability from refining segment," said Bhavesh Chauhan, Senior Research Analyst at Angel Broking.

Net profit in October-December at Rs 5,502 crore was 23.9 per cent higher over Rs 4,440 crore in the same period a year ago, RIL had said in a statement on Friday.

The better-than-estimated quarterly profit came on the back of rise in earnings from turning crude oil into petrol, diesel and other petroleum products.

RIL, which operates the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, earned USD 9.6 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter, compared to USD 6.8 per barrel gross refining margin in the same period a year ago.

Sales were up over 10 per cent to Rs 96,307 crore.

In the broader market, the BSE barometer Sensex was trading at 20,091.81, up 52.77 points at 1030 hrs.

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Reliance Industries shares surge on earnings beat

(Reuters): Shares of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd rose 4.2 percent in pre-open trade, after posting a better-than-expected 24 percent jump in third-quarter net profit.

The company on Friday posted its first profit increase after four quarters of declining returns, buoyed by improving margins in its core oil refining business.